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Thursday, July 28, 2011

Gotham: A bit of New York on Oxford Street

Oxford Street was a Saturday night go-to place in my younger days – a street filled with clubs before Kings Cross hit my radar. Drinks, dancefloors and perhaps some late night coffees were the go, while food was rarely a consideration (Mortal Sin cheesecake and Hungry Jacks aside).

The bar at Gotham, Oxford Street, Darlinghurst

But with age comes earlier bedtimes, less stamina for all-night dancing, and way less capacity (and desire) to drink and particularly shoot drinks.

And it’s as if someone knew this and opened up Gotham on Oxford Street late last year – a sophisticated and stylish bar (circa 1950s New York, apparently) with an admirable, restaurant-level menu of food to go with the imbibing of alcoholic beverages, and seating arrangements of almost any desire.

Seats inside Gotham

The luxe, worldly interior is a welcoming haven of dark hues, with long tables and bar seating at the front supplemented with plush armchairs and huge square booths further within.

There’s a fireplace that appears to be a warmth placebo, as well as an extended upstairs level that seems perfect for a Saturday night party.

Upper East Side cocktail

A nickname for New York, as well as a commonly-known superhero city reference, the Gotham theme runs throughout the cocktail menu designed by Dane Reid (ex Jimmy Liks).

My choice of the Upper East Side is served short; a mix of muddled fresh pink grapefruit shaken with Cointreau, gin and a dash of Campari. Its sweet and slightly bitter profile, along with the cute pinkness of the drink, manages to erase thoughts of the freezing outside conditions.

The Big Apple cocktail

The taller Big Apple cocktail features fresh Granny Smith apples and some slightly artificial tasting green apple flavouring, shaken with mint leaves, gin and white grapefruit juice. It’s not as impressive as the Upper East Side, nor as sweet.

Glass of white wine

There's also a classic cocktail menu and a decent-sized wine list (Wine Men of Gotham shiraz is very, very good), but I was keen to try out the share plates on the menu as they appear a lot more creative and substantial than your average bar menu. No nuts or wedges here – we’re talking stuffed and fried green olives, zucchini flowers and pissaladiere.

With a proper kitchen and recently appointed "lead culinary consultant" Laif Etournaud (previously from Onde, Bistro Moncur and Berowra Waters Inn), these are some serious shared eats.

There’s also a choice of five main meals plus sides for those hungrier souls; although I really gravitate towards the idea of lots of share plates when drinking.

Duck liver parfait with cornichons and sourdough

I’ve decided I prefer parfaits to pates for their smoothness and lower likelihood to start me thinking about animal organs.

This textbook quenelle of duck liver parfait was supremely rich and creamy with a detectable liver-liness; gorgeously luxurious slathered onto the thin, toasted slices of sourdough bread. The cornichons and pickled onions add tart relief from too much richness, which isn’t altogether a bad thing in this case.

Pan fried olive and parmesan sandwich

As a carbs and cheese lover, I had my heart set on the rather ingenious sandwich on the menu. What looked like two slices of pan-fried sourdough bread were indeed two pan-fried sourdough sandwiches, crammed full of melty parmesan cheese and olives that I didn’t see as I scoffed the thin sandwich.

I’m all for cheese toasties at the worst of times, so this pimped up version was easily my favourite dish of the night. The crunchy bread contrasted superbly with the chewy parmesan cheese; the olives provided the flavour hit while the chopped parsley atop delivered some necessary freshness.

Crisp chicken wings with lime mayonnaise

The highly recommended chicken wings were definitely on my want list, and arrived as a basket of mid-wings with a zingy, citrusy mayonnaise dipping sauce. Not so much crisp as really not, the wings were nevertheless juicy and fell apart easily, with a delightful but subtle spice marinade making the skin the best part.

However, a subsequent visit to Gotham found their chicken wings closer to crisp with an impactful salt and pepper seasoning on the burnished skin of juicy, juicy mid-wings. I also noted the fun comic sheets beneath lining the basket - look out for Batman here!

Sugar cured ocean trout with horseradish cream and grilled sourdough

The generous serve of sugar-cured ocean trout was very tempting to the eye. Splodges of dill-spiked horseradish cream upped the flavour ante although it seemed to lack the taste of horseradish.

The ocean trout, cut to a good thickness, was pert and bouncing with fresh flavours, served with more bread and watercress sprigs.

We continued the sharing theme with one main between two of us: the choice a toss-up between the Kinkawooka mussels and the Angus sirloin. It went the latter, although the entire mains menu sounded pretty appetising.

Our requested medium-rare was more on the rare side of things, but easily and quickly rectified by the kitchen. However, the beurre marchand sauce was a complete revelation: a shallot and red wine reduction that’s then mixed into butter with lemon juice and parsley, and served a little like Café de Paris butter – but so much better.

With a slight tartness and rich, caramelly flavours from the reduction, it reminded me a little of the retro Diane sauce, but nothing nearly so heavy. It even made a great dip for the french fries.

We had our chewing work cut out in some parts of the long-ish sirloin steak, but the tender, perfectly medium-rare sections made it completely worthwhile.

The beauty of shared meals is a higher chance of there being space in my belly for dessert; a shared one, that is. Madeleines sounded a lighter treat than brownies, though they arrived with a quenelle of double cream.

The hot, crisp-surfaced madeleines were simply perfect: deep brown shell shapes of an eggy cake, crumbing delightfully and served with an unexpected quince paste – the match surprisingly appropriate given the paste’s subdued tartness.

Although fairly quiet on an early weeknight, in all I found Gotham quite appealing and adding a little bit of classy eating and drinking to the popular street. It may not exactly be a slice of New York, but Friday happy hour cocktails and the welcoming furniture will see me back. Oh, and the parmesan and olive toastie – of course.

Food, booze and shoes dined as a guest of Gotham with thanks to Folke.

"But with age comes earlier bedtimes, less stamina for all-night dancing, and way less capacity (and desire) to drink and particularly shoot drinks." - I just couldn't agree more. Or maybe it's because we started partying too young? Hahaha, just kidding!

Anyhoo, this Gotham place sounds exciting. Basing from its looks, the ambience seems like I and my friends will be having a good time while reminiscing the fun and a little embarassing past experiences of partying and getting wasted.

Hi Sasha - Yeag, Gotham definitely has a great vibe going on, and now some pretty awesome eats too, as you see. A 7-8 from 10, I say. Even though sometimes I miss it, I'm glad the partying days are over :)